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i used to be a member,it is in a sports centre near me and it enabled me to use their swimming pool free , and to use their showers too, which was a real plus, because the water jet was hot and gushing…. that was about 2yrs ago when i just stopped going. too lazy i guess.

but now i am kick starting my fitness regime, with a all men only circuit training, and the shower in that gym reminded me what i was missing… those showers are real refreshing. i thought i better rejoin.

i had lost the membership card i had last time, but fortunately heard from my friend from usa who on his visit here, managed to get the free membership and it is opened to westminster residents. the swimming is free, and the gym sessions are £3.50 which is something new because when i got that free membership last time, there was no such reduced entry to the gym.

it was a very quick painless affair to register for the membership card. all i had to do was let them see a utility bill, i gave them my electric bill, showing my home address… and my passport. and that is it. i got a card that presumably let me in free. i have yet to use it, as i decided, instead of going in to swim straightaway, i thought i shall go see the hokusai exhibition at the japan embassy, and i am glad i took the passport along, because to get inside i have to show them a photo id, and have my bags scanned. wanting to see photo id is not usual practise to see an exhibition. the advert whcih told me of them did not mention this.

the exhibition is showing the original prints that he did. so not what we would think of as original art, as it is reproductions from woodscreen. and not all the scenes that he made of mt fuji were shown. i dont suppose they got the original drawings that he must have made before they were transferred to the woodscreen. now those would be extremely precious, if they exist at all.

it featured the great wave, and the red fuji. the great wave is well known. some would know the red fuji too.

this article shows how people use it in street art . some artist painting it on the wall of his house in camberwell. and the article also mentioned a hokusai exhibition going on at the british museum now till 13aug. i did not know that. you have to buy a ticket to see it, and you have to get a time slot. but it seems according to their website, advance tickets are all sold out and u have to buy the daily tickets, a limited amount each day and u got to queue up each day… whilst the exhibition in the japanese embassy is free and when i went this morning, not many people. it goes on for a week i think. perhaps i am a phillistine, and dont know how to appreciate art, but when i see the woodcuts prints they look like prints… i mean you can see them in pictures and they wont look different. they dont have the texture of drawings and paintings on paper… which gives that special effect to viewers. these look like printed works, which of course they are… so seeing the original printed works dont really strike you. only when u remember that these prints were produced in the early 1800s, they are very old, and their colour is still so vibrant, that it catches you , or it did me. they look like they were done recently and that is why it does not strike me at first… it is a strange feeling you get, looking at them, thinking what is so great about them? i mean apart from their subject matter and the skill in the execution which is really striking , until you remember these are 200 or more years old and their colours are still so vibrant and look like they were printed yesterday.